Demand for handouts from emergency foodbanks has tripled in the West Midlands in the past year, new figures have revealed.

Anti-poverty charity The Trussell Trust said more than 41,000 people in the region received at least three days-worth of emergency food from its foodbanks in the previous 12 months, up from 12,948 in 2011-12.

And it laid bare a rising crisis in child hunger, with youngsters accounting for more than a third of those it fed in 2012-13.

The Trust blamed the huge rise – the biggest since it was formed in 2000 – on the rising cost of living, static incomes, changes to benefits and unemployment.

Executive chairman Chris Mould said: “The sheer volume of people turning to foodbanks because they can’t afford food is a wake-up call to the nation that we cannot ignore the hunger on our doorstep.”

In the Midlands, the number of foodbanks has risen by 55 per cent since last April and nationally the charity, which already operates 345 food banks, is opening distribution centres at a rate of three per week.

The public donated 420 tonnes of food in the West Midlands in 2012-13.

The regional figures reflect a growing food costs crisis among working age families across the country.

Emergency handouts across the country nearly trebled to 350,000 in the last 12 months.

Birmingham City Council cabinet member Coun John Cotton said the authority was aware of the struggle facing thousands of families following the Government’s controversial benefits shake-up.

He said: “Many families and individuals will be hard hit by these changes.

“We want to make sure they get the help and support they need.

“The council is working closely with partners from across Birmingham – voluntary organisations, charities, community groups and others at the front line of supporting vulnerable people – to ensure we have a properly-coordinated response to these enormous changes.”